By Ben Tugendstein
Jake Layman put in 19 points, and Jaylen Brantley had his best game in a Maryland uniform Saturday night, scoring 14 points on 6-7 shooting as the Terrapins ran past Princeton in the second half, winning 82-61.
Princeton was not intimidated by Maryland’s size and speed early on as they made four 3 pointers before the first media timeout. Henry Caruso led Princeton’s surge with eight early points and finished with 17 for the game. But Maryland settled down and crashed the three point line, forcing the Tigers to drive, where they used their size to get stops.
On the offensive end, it was a lot of Layman, and a lot of Robert Carter Jr. The Terps played inside out much of the first half. And Princeton often was forced to choose between doubling inside and leaving a shooter open, and leaving a Maryland big man one on one inside.
They chose poorly as Layman finished with 12 points in the first half, doing most of his damage from beyond the arc. Princeton’s shooting kept them in the game, however, as the Terps couldn’t quite pull away. The score was 35-31 at the half.
Coach Turgeon then turned up the heat in the second half, turning to a full court trap defense to try to take advantage of Princeton’s lack of great guard play. The Terrapins turned the Tigers over, which led to some easy buckets, and even when they didn’t force a steal, it was clear that Princeton’s offense wasn’t running as cleanly.
Maryland also picked it up on the offensive end of the floor. They dominated points in the paint and took command early by pounding Princeton inside with freshman Diamond Stone.
“The second half, we were about as good as we can be,” commented Head Coach Mark Turgeon.
It was Jake Layman’s former AAU teammate Jaylen Brantley who was the star of the second half. The backup point guard, whose playing time has not always been there to start the year, put in 14 points – many of the highlight variety – to put the game out of hand.
It was the Terps’ one and only game in Baltimore, and the crowd was excited at the chance to see their hometown kids play. “What a great night in Baltimore,” reflected Turgeon, “The city really embraced us.”
Maryland can celebrate the holidays before their next game – at home on December 27 against Marshall.
